[INDOLOGY] Re: Sanskrit outside universities

[Andrew Ollett]

Dear Antonia, and dear colleagues,

I'm encouraged by the interest that these programs represent, and aware of
the fact that even universities that offer Sanskrit require students to be
enrolled in (often very expensive) degree programs to take courses. The "à
la carte" model has a lot to recommend it. I myself would be a little
worried, in principle, about the business model and ideology of some
"alt-ac" programs --- not, of course, the ones you listed, which have real
scholarly credentials behind them --- but I suppose some people could worry
about the business model and ideology of university instruction, too.

Still, I would hope that people still go first to their local university
(or the nearest university that teaches Sanskrit), because they won't know
what's available unless they ask. Our Sanskrit classes at the University of
Chicago, for example, are open to students from a dozen or so other
universities in the midwest US (at least during the pandemic!), and some
university programs put their instructional materials online for free.
Faculty might also offer advice about language study.

Andrew

On Thu, Mar 11, 2021 at 12:21 PM Antonia Ruppel <rhododaktylos at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Dear List,
>
> Sanskrit instruction (and instruction in the humanities in general) is
> being cut at many universities, while at the same time 'real-world'
> interest in these topics is on the rise. Hence I thought it might be useful
> to get an overview of the existing 'alt-ac' institutions out there.
>
> So far I am aware of
> -- the School of Indian Wisdom (https://courses.rajbalkaran.com)
> -- the Sanskrit Library (https://www.sanskritlibrary.org/courses.html)
> -- Yogic Studies (https://www.yogicstudies.com/courses)
>
> (Full disclosure: I teach the Introductory Sanskrit courses offered by
> Yogic Studies, and will be involved in the higher-level Sanskrit literature
> courses.)
>
> I would be grateful for replies to this post
> -- by anyone who can add to the above list of course offerings (i. e.:
> courses at a properly scholarly level, taught by academics, but not limited
> to students enrolled at one specific college or university)
> -- by anyone at a college/university without a full Indology/Asian Studies
> department, interested in expanding the educational offerings available to
> their students by working together with such an alt-ac institution (the
> Yogic Studies three-term Introductory Sanskrit sequence, for example, is
> basically the same as the two-semester introduction I used to teach at
> Cornell; and Yogic Studies is beginning to build up co-operations with
> colleges/universities)
>
> I will happily send a summary of such offerings/institutions to the List.
>
> Thank you, and all the best,
>      Antonia
>
>
> --
> Dr Antonia Ruppel FRAS
> Author | The Cambridge Introduction to Sanskrit
> Lehrkraft für besondere Aufgaben | Institut für Indologie und Tibetologie
> LMU München
> Researcher 'Uncovering Sanskrit Syntax' | Department of Linguistics,
> Philology and Phonetics
> Junior Research Fellow | Kellogg College
> University of Oxford
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